2016 Healthcare Information Technology Salary Report

Executive Summary

Health IT professionals continue to be in high demand, and organizations largely rely on attractive compensation packages to secure talent. But how much is enough? How much are health IT professionals earning? How much do they feel they deserve to earn?

The 3rd Annual Health IT Salary Report provides a benchmark for both health IT workers and their employers. This year’s data indicates the average health IT salary is $93,469 (Median $85,000), and the average bonus earned is $7,603 (Median $4,150).

Of course, the overall average is just the starting point. To really understand health IT salaries and the factors that influence them, one has to examine the average salaries according to job function, employer type, compensation type, experience, and more.

2016 Healthcare IT Salary Infographic

Expanded Infographic Available to HealthITJobs.com Members

Share this page with your friends

About the Survey

More than 1,100 professionals attempted to take the 2016 Health IT Salary Survey, but in order to qualify, respondents had to have experience working in health IT. After a month of collecting data, we had 802 qualified responses.

These health IT professionals provided details not only about their incomes, but also their job titles, employers, certifications, and more, allowing us to examine how these factors influence salaries.

Embed Infographic

Health IT Professionals at a Glance

Because health IT experience was a requirement to take the survey, all 802 respondents have worked in health IT at some point in their careers. Three out of four respondents are currently working in healthcare IT. Half of them work for a hospital or healthcare system and another 30% work for a consulting company.

In addition to factors directly related to employment, the survey asked respondents to identify themselves by gender, age, education levels, and more. While this may not be a complete snapshot of the health IT community at large, it does shed light on who provided the data for our report.

Salary Expectations Versus Reality

In addition to compensation details, the survey asked respondents to say how much they felt they deserved to earn, and not surprisingly, these figures are significantly higher than their actual incomes. Although 51% of respondents said they are satisfied or very satisfied with their salaries, the average gap between what they are making and what they feel they should be making is $15,553. This may be a reason why 40% of health IT professionals say they will likely change jobs in the next year.

What Factors Impact Health IT Salaries?

Average Health IT Salaries by Job Function

From helpdesk staff and software developers to systems analysts and clinical applications specialists - health IT spans a range of job titles and functions, and which one you hold may be the largest factor in determining salary.

As for which job pays the most, not surprisingly, executives reported the highest average health IT salaries at $171,341 (Median $170,000) plus an average bonus of $27,500. However, executives accounted for just 2.5% of all respondents and the standard deviation is significant.

The most common job functions are ranked below. For the third year in a row, project managers reported the highest average salary at $113,188 (Median $103,000), as well as the highest average bonus ($16,974).

The full 2016 HealthITJobs.com Salary Survey Report is only available to our members and includes additional data not shown here including breakouts by experience levels, certifications, which organization types pay the most, and more. It also includes an Expanded Infographic with additional data. Join HealthITJobs.com today for FREE and download the full report and corresponding Infographic.